ISSAQUAH, WA, Jul 10, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX News Network) -- Costco Wholesale Corporation ("Costco") (NASDAQ: COST) today
reported net sales of $7.14 billion for the month of June, the five
weeks ended July 6, 2008, an increase of 12 percent from $6.35
billion in the same five-week period last year.
For the first forty-four weeks of its reporting period ended July 6,
2008, the Company reported net sales of $59.84 billion, an increase of
13 percent from $53.17 billion during the similar forty-four-week
period last year.
Comparable sales for the five-week and forty-four-week periods ended
July 6, 2008, were as follows:
5 Weeks 44 Weeks
-------- --------
US 9% 6%
International 11% 16%
Total Company 9% 8%
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The U.S. comparable sales figure includes, among other things, the
effect of gasoline price inflation, with the average sales price per
gallon of gasoline up 38 percent for the five-week month of June, as
compared to the year-earlier June. Excluding gasoline price
inflation, U.S. comparable sales would have been up 5 percent. In
addition, foreign exchange rates, primarily in Canada, positively
impacted international comparable sales results. On a local currency
basis, international comparable sales increased 8 percent in June.
Costco currently operates 537 warehouses, including 393 in the United
States and Puerto Rico, 75 in Canada, 19 in the United Kingdom, six
in Korea, five in Taiwan, eight in Japan and 31 in Mexico. The
Company also operates Costco Online, an electronic commerce web site,
at www.costco.com and at www.costco.ca in Canada. The Company plans
to open an additional seven to eight new warehouses (including the
relocation of two warehouses to larger and better-located facilities)
prior to the end of its 2008 fiscal year on August 31, 2008.
Additional discussion of these sales results is available on a
pre-recorded telephone message. You can access the recording by
dialing 1-800-642-1687 (conference ID 47689911). This recorded
message will be available today through 5:00 p.m. (PT) on Friday,
July 11, 2008.
Certain statements contained in this document and the pre-recorded
telephone message constitute forward-looking statements within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. For
these purposes, forward-looking statements are statements that address
activities, events, conditions or developments that the Company
expects or anticipates may occur in the future. Such forward-looking
statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual
events, results or performance to differ materially from those
indicated by such statements. These risks and uncertainties include,
but are not limited to, domestic and international economic
conditions, including exchange rates, the effects of competition and
regulation, uncertainties in the financial markets, consumer and
small business spending patterns and debt levels, conditions
affecting the acquisition, development, ownership or use of real
estate, actions of vendors, rising costs associated with employees
(including health care and workers' compensation costs), rising costs
associated with the acquisition of merchandise (including the direct
and indirect effects of the rising cost of petroleum-based products
and fuel and energy costs), geopolitical conditions and other risks
identified from time to time in the Company's public statements and
reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
CONTACTS:
Costco Wholesale Corporation
Bob Nelson
425/313-8255
Jeff Elliott
425/313-8264
SOURCE: Costco